What happened
On May 25, 2022, a pilot was participating in the "Euregio-Cup" gliding competition when his Rolladen-Schneider LS 1-f crashed near Wershofen/Eifel. The flight began at Aachen-Merzbrück airfield at 11:21 AM as a cross-country task covering approximately 358 km. After more than six hours of flight time, the aircraft began a steady descent from a maximum altitude of 2,008 m AMSL.
As the aircraft descended, the pilot attempted to find thermal lift on two occasions around 17:30 and 17:35, but these maneuvers resulted in no altitude gain. By 17:43, the aircraft had descended below 300 m AGL. Flight data records show the aircraft flying westward toward the third waypoint. In its final minute, the aircraft flew straight before entering a right-hand turn toward a meadow. A witness reported seeing the glider in a left-hand turn at a low altitude immediately before it crashed. The impact occurred on a meadow approximately 2.7 km east of the Wershofen airfield, resulting in one fatality and the destruction of the aircraft.
The investigation
The BFU examined flight data from the aircraft's FLARM collision warning device, which provided GPS positions, timestamps, and barometric altitude measurements. This allowed investigators to reconstruct the flight path and altitude profile. The investigation also included an examination of the wreckage, where investigators found the cockpit area was broken multiple times and the fuselage tube had snapped. The landing gear was driven into the fuselage, and the left wing's leading edge was broken. Meteorological data from the Wershofen airfield confirmed visibility of over 10 km with winds from the west at 30 to 35 km/h, noting that thermals were "broken" and fading at the time of the accident.